JODY FANNIN showed excellent pace on his return to the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone with a points scoring finish in the Appleby Engineering Bentley Continental GT3, sharing with Steve Tandy and James Appleby in the Pro Am class.
Despite not getting any laps in the car until Saturday morning when he did six laps in monsoon conditions, the BRDC Rising Star was immediately competitive in the afternoon pre-qualifying session, when he split the factory Bentleys while familiarising himself with the car in the early wet conditions.
As the track dried during the session and the tyre choice turned to slicks, Fannin jumped back in the car for the last five minutes of the session and, in his first dry laps in the car, he surprised a few of the Blancpain regulars by going fourth overall on his first flying lap, then having dropped down as others improved, he finished his second lap, and the end of the session, ninth overall in a field of 44, and fourth in class.
"The car immediately inspired confidence and it's clear Bentley have put a lot of effort into the development of the Continental GT3." explained Fannin.
The rain had stopped by Sunday morning but the track was still wet as qualifying started.
The 20-year-old was in the second qualifying session, by which time the track was mostly dry and slicks were the obvious choice. By the end of the 15 minute session, Fannin was tenth overall and third in class in his session, which was a fantastic effort considering his lack of track time in the Bentley and the strength in depth of the field.
Steve Tandy started the three hour race 22nd on the grid and ran strongly in 25th until handing the car over to Fannin just before the hour mark. He resumed in 33rd after a delayed pit stop and started to hunt down and pass the cars ahead in spite of large gaps between them and traffic along the way.
Having looked after the tyres in the first few laps, it paid off at the end of the stint where he was one of the fastest cars on track and had worked up to 20th and ninth in class before handing over to James Appleby.
After a safety car interrupted stint, Appleby was running 18th overall and eighth in class when an intermittent issue caused the car to cut out resulting in dropping a place just before the end.
"The Generation Bentley Racing team had been flat out in the weeks leading up to the race, so to get a points finish on their BES debut is a fantastic reward. I enjoyed driving the Bentley and would love another opportunity now that I am getting to grips with the car." said Fannin.
